Follow the Data, Lower Parking Rates

When the City Council approved a new parking meter rate
policy in 2010 we stressed the importance of a rational, outcome-based policy
that could be applied consistently and fairly in every neighborhood business
district.

Last fall the Council was told by the Mayor’s budget office
and transportation managers there would be no further changes to parking rates
in 2013 to allow the public to get used to the changes applied in 2012, but the
Mayor recently announced lowered rates in one neighborhood. If we’re going to
make changes at all this year, we should
adhere to the data and lower parking meter rates in up to 13 paid parking areas in neighborhood
business districts.

Let’s recap.

When the Council adopted the new
approach to setting meter rates our goal was to (1) price meter rates based on
demand in order to keep one or two spaces available on each block in our
neighborhood business districts, (2) reduce congestion and environmental harm
from drivers cruising for an open space and (3) shift from a revenue-based approach
to an outcome-based policy. (I
wrote extensively about these new policies when they
were being developed.)

Since our policy shift, the City’s transportation
department has indeed raised and lowered meter rates in several areas. For
2012, meter rates were lowered in Capitol Hill south, the Pioneer Square
periphery and the northwest corner of South Lake Union. They were raised in the
Ballard core, Belltown south, the South Lake Union 10-hour areas and the
University District core.

Eventually, our desire is to shift to
flexible time-of-day pricing so rates can be even more sensitive to demand. Our
transportation officials have repeatedly told us that the City’s current
technology doesn’t allow for this level of pricing, but the Mayor’s recent
announcement includes this variation. There are other neighborhoods, such as
Capitol Hill south, where the parking occupancy between the day and the evening
are dramatically different and could use time-of-day pricing even more.

The 2010 policies are a
smart way to manage our on-street parking resource—especially to encourage the
availability of spaces in our neighborhood business districts which our retail
business owners want—but they must be applied consistently and fairly.